Destination Marfa: Film Review by Christos Arfanis
Title: Destination Marfa
Genre: Sci-Fi
Production Year: 2021
Synopsis: Sci-fi themed tale that follows four lifelong friends who decide to veer off the road and venture into a small West Texas town after meeting a mysterious stranger. The line between reality and fantasy quickly becomes blurred as the friends are drawn to the fabled ghost lights of Marfa, Texas.
Cast: Tony Todd (Candyman, Scream: The TV Series, 24), Stelio Savante (Infidel, Running For Grace, Ugly Betty), Richard Riehle (The Man from Earth, Casino), Neil Sandilands (News of the World, The Flash), Tracy Perez (East Los High, Animal Kingdom), Kyle Cotton (Angel of Death, Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash)
The award-winning film Destination Marfa, written and directed by Andy Stapp is inspired by the Marfa Lights atmospheric phenomenon, also known as Ghost Lights, which is one of the local and magical mysteries of Marfa, Texas. The lights appear and shine in the sky, but even today it has not been discovered what causes them or where they come from.
The film begins with Vincent (Stelio Savante) who narrates and introduces us to the road trip that the four friends, Matthew Bench (Kyle Colton), Erik Streett (Marcus Jahn), with Eden Percell (Brittany Jo Alvarado) and Allie Holliwell (Tracy Perez), decided to have. Then we see Vincent talking at a diner (in the USA diner is called a small and usually cheap restaurant, often on the side of the road) with Mayor Henry (Tony Todd), accompanied by waitress Donna (Kimberley Christann Pember). Savante and Todd’s performances are riveting and balanced, with one actor in complete harmony with the other.
Then Vincent continues his story. The four friends are now at a gas station, where he also happens to be. Allie notices a strange device that is supposed to be a fortune teller. Although her friend warns her not to get involved with it, Allie does not listen to her and uses the machine. The friends continue their road trip, while Vincent appears to travel by hitchhiking with destination to Marfa. Marfa, Texas is described as an idyllic place, but it seems to hide a secret.
Arriving in Marfa, the four friends go sightseeing and have fun while discovering the mystery of Marfa Lights, which seems to particularly attract Eric and Matthew. Vincent is lurking around as a mysterious figure that you don’t know if he wants to either help or harm the friends.
Destination Marfa stands out for its amazing color palette, its music, as well as its sound, which in addition to the very good performances by the entire main and supporting cast, present us with an original cinematic experience, despite the slow-burn development of narration.
Originally published at https://threepixelslab.gr (in Greek) on August 4, 2021.
